paul wellstone of minnesota, a democrat. pete domenici a republican. what an unlikely pair. they came together because each of them had family experiences with mental health. what they tried to do and successfully did was to include in all of our health insurance plans coverage for mental health counseling as well as substance abuse treatment. it became standard. and when we passed obamacare, the affordable care act, it was built in to health insurance policies. so when members stand here and say i'm getting rid of obamacare, we're going to vote against it, make that go away. ask them how about that coverage for mental health conditions? is that going to go away too? how about coverage for substance abuse treatment? will that go away too? this change made a big difference. it was a huge step in the right direction to expand access to mental health counseling. we have to further eliminate barriers to treatment. last week the senate passed the comprehensive addiction recovery acts authorizing several important programs to help people deal with mental health and substance abuse

one was paul wellstone of minnesota who passed away in an airplane crash and the other pete today minute chi, -- deminici, they helped -- one mental health counseling and the other substance abuse treatment. we built that into owe bam pla care. if you -- obamacare. if you buy a health insurance policy, it covers substance abuse treatment as well as mental health counseling. luckily for many of the feamtion when their kids -- families when their kids end up being addicted, they can turn to their health shurns and their health insurance -- insurance and their health insurance can help pay substance abuse treatment. we need other sources for attempt when it comes to medicaid. for those who say they want to repeal obamacare and get rid of it, that's another provision. really? you want to get rid of the requirement that health insurance policies in america cover mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment? i think it's important that we have it. i'm not sure what we would do without it. i see my senator from oklahoma is here. the second comment i would make relates to the supreme c

this chamber not that many years ago, a law which was brought to the floor originally by senator paul wellstone of minnesota, senator pete domenici of new mexico. that bill required that health insurance policies in the united states in the future would cover mental health health counseling and substance abuse treatment. so now because that became the law, the health insurance plans we buy cover our families for those needs. many families who never dreamed that they would need substance abuse treatment for their kids thank goodness can turn to their health insurance plan for that kind of help. we've got to protect that. those who talk about repealing the affordable care act would be repealing this very protection that families are using now for substance abuse treatment. that isn't the answer to this. the answer is to have more treatment facilities available so that people can rid themselves of this addiction and get on with their lives. i met so many of these people in my round tables. law enforcement, doctors, but the ones i remember the most are the young people addicted in high school who f